


Practicum

by Domenika Marzione (domarzione)



Category: Captain America (Comics), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: Assassins & Hitmen, F/M, Gen, Red Room, The Winter Soldier - Freeform, ex-soviet assassins in love, except they're not ex yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-21
Updated: 2014-03-21
Packaged: 2018-01-16 10:47:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1344667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/domarzione/pseuds/Domenika%20Marzione
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Winter Soldier watches the youngest Black Widow the Red Room has ever produced prove her worth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Practicum

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the #BuckyNat Week challenge on Tumblr.

He watches her through his rifle sight, able to see her only because he is looking and because he knows she is there. The youngest Black Widow the Red Room has ever produced has faded into invisibility in plain sight, neither noticeable nor looking like she's hiding at all. There's a guidebook for student travelers in her hand as she sits on the bench, her back to the doors of the church, and her backpack is on her lap, the straps curled around her wrists like she's afraid she'll be mugged. Her hair is dyed a mousy shade of brown and, as she hunches over her book and her bag, she makes herself small and insignificant and beneath the attention of passersby and security guards alike. 

She is becoming too pretty for this work, the masters of Department X are starting to rumble, too striking even with her hair dyed and her clothes loose and cheap-looking. Field agents need to not only blend into the shadows as they find them, but also be able to create their own when none exist and Natalia will never be able to pass down a street unnoticed once she has lost the dewiness of youth that still clings to her skin. Despite all of her talents, all of her skill and strength and suitability for the life of a field agent, none of that mattered if she could not disappear, if she could not be unnoticed, and if noticed, then immediately forgotten. She should instead be turned over to Madame Tatiana, the whoremaster of Department X's brothel of honeypots and valentine operatives. Tatiana was a Black Widow once, too, and will be able to break Natalia to the bit of trading sex for secrets and power and death. This mission is one of Natalia's last chances to prove that she has far more to offer than what's between her thighs, although she has not been told this, at least not by their masters. 

Which does not mean that she does not know; he told her as they lay in bed their first night here, sated and hungry still.

"Why?" she asked. He couldn't see her face as she rested her head on his chest, but he could hear her voice and feel the tension in her body under his hand. She wasn't asking why she was at risk of becoming Madame Tatiana's newest prize; she had no vanity but that didn't mean she didn't know what she looked like, how men -- and women -- looked at her. She was asking why he was telling her, why he had been put on this mission when everyone knew he was far too valuable to be wasted testing the newest agents. 

"You're too good for that," he told her, running his metal hand through her hair and tugging slightly so she'll look up at him. "And I don't like to share."

Now, in the bright sunshine of a Mediterranean afternoon, they wait to put their plan into motion. The target is a businessman with ties to both the Church and the local gangsters, not an uncommon marriage in this part of the world. He is a not a keeper of secrets, although he keeps enough to stay alive, but a money man. He launders the gangsters' money through the funds he manages for the Church, he hides money bishops don't want their cardinals to see, he procures nothing but knows someone who can cater to every whim no matter how pedestrian or perverted. He is also skimming a percentage of all of his transactions. All of that is irrelevant to Moscow's eye; whatever the reason is why he must die, it's not one of those. Neither of them know the actual reason. 

The doors of the church open and he watches Natalia close her travel guide and put it in her backpack, rummaging around and then coming up with a tube of lip balm and applying it as she stands, shielding her eyes from the sun and her face from passers-by. He shifts the rifle a little to the right, losing sight of Natalia and re-setting his angles so that he has a good view of the piazza at the foot of the church steps. If Natalia should fail, he will not. His protection of her can only go so far; the Winter Soldier does not cover for anyone and the reason he has this assignment is that they assume his judgment is uncompromised. If that were found to be untrue, they would both suffer greatly for it. His judgment is not impaired; if Natalia were not capable of this work, then Madame Tatiana's is where she belongs. But she is capable, at a level that negates any worries about her memorable beauty. 

The target comes through the doors, skimming down the stairs with a lightness of step that belies his age and gut as he heads toward the car at the curb. He is dead before he can reach for the handle and Natalia is gone before his body hits the ground. 

Natalia is luminous with pride and satisfaction when he finds her in their room. She stalks across the floor like a tigress toward him as he slides the sack hiding his rifle off of his shoulder. She reaches up and puts one slim hand around the back of his neck, tangling in his hair as she pulls his head down to hers. "I don't like to share, either."


End file.
